Our 53rd Anniversary, Leaving Bear Lake, City of Rocks, South Fork Recreation Area and then home! :) Aaron's all settled in :)

 We certainly enjoyed our time at Bear Lake State Park, Utah! I can see that becoming a yearly destination! 

Monday the 15th we took a little ride to Garden City, Utah, a very nice touristy town. We had decided that if we found a Mexican Restaurant we'd treat ourselves to lunch. We found Cafe Saber and it was delicious. Huge portions and a nice atmosphere. 

Way too much food, but ohh so yummy! 

Tuesday was our 53rd wedding anniversary. If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you know that lunch is always bologna sandwiches! They were delicious by the lake. 

How we started the celebration of 53 years! 

Wednesday morning we left after taking our time to get ready. A beautiful drive we had to City of Rocks National Preserve. We had been there one other time when the grandkids were younger and they loved it. Figured we'd see it one more time in our lifetime. 

Beautiful Bear Lake from the top of the mountain! 

Beautiful City of Rocks, Idaho 

The camping spots that are in some of the rocks were way too small for us. We ended up turning around, but the views were spectacular. We headed down to their other campground to check it out. Very nice, but reservation only. Use the QR reader and get online or call, but we were too late for that. Anyway, frustrating for us so we decided to head for their small visitor center. 

We had a lovely night there until Ken went out to the truck and found a $60.00 ticket on the windshield. There was a sign that said No Camping with a picture of a tent crossed out. We see those at highway rest areas but we can overnight three. We didn't actually see that sign until that morning. Nothing that said No overnight parking though. Well, good morning from Idaho! 

Ken went into the visitor center and paid the girl. $61.80 as they charge for using your credit card. He did tell her they need a sign that says, No overnight parking. She agreed and said she'd tell her supervisor. Yeah, right!

Off we went towards Elko, NV. We were headed for the South Fork Recreation Area about 20 miles from there. There were a lot of campers again but we found a spot we could have had for two nights, but with all the bugs we were anxious to get going the next morning. 

Friday about 1630 we pulled into the driveway and just unloaded what was needed before heading next door to see Karen and hairy kids. They were so happy to see us. 💖

Saturday we spent here at home unloading and enjoying some college football  Ken barbecued some delicious burgers with some of our Conder Ranch beef. 

Had our first fire in the outdoor kitchen as we were out 
there about 0630 to enjoy some coffee and get ready for
pregame 😀

To close out the evening, a nice fire and a good beer 
in our favorite glass ever! 💕

Sunday, of course was Champagne Sunday. Had some BLT's for lunch. Later in the afternoon Ken cooked some delicious chicken and ribs on the Pit Boss. YUMMY. 

During the course of the day it was hard to pull myself away from the Charlie Kirk memorial. 😭

Monday we had to go to Gardnerville to pick up a prescription for me. Then to Carson City for some groceries at Walmart . Then we stopped at Discount Tires so Ken could get a quote on new tires for the Tundra $$$ and two new tires for the side by side $$. Yep, an expensive stop. They all should be in next week so we'll head that way then. A nice linner at Betsy's and then home. 

Today was divide and conquer. I spent a few hours in the Mansion getting it all cleaned up and Ken did his thing around here. There's several things he needs to repair on the Mansion. It's 5 years old now, so you know things are falling apart. Next he'll put on his RV repair hat. 😂

Russell and Lori got Aaron all settled in at UCSB. Bitter sweet for Russell and Lori, as they are now empty nesters! 

Aaron's apartment building 

Taking a load in...

Another one..

I love when Owen wears this shirt to support his cousin Jacob! 💙

Well, there you go. I give daily bloggers a lot of credit as even on vacation I can't find time to blog. Home is worse LOL. 

Happy Hour with my sweetie. Have a wonderful evening! 

Cave Lake State Park, Truck stop, Bear Lake State Park Utah :)

 We left home on Wednesday, September 10th heading for Cave Lake, NV. We've been there several times and love it. We got there mid afternoon and the  place was packed! We checked out the lake and campground. Nope, so we headed to their other campground, Elk Flat. We were able to find a site that had one night we could camp. It was lovely. The next morning the people there pulled out and they had one night too that the spot would be empty. 

This mountain always let's us know we're almost to Cave Lake

Beautiful Cave Lake

Really nice campsites 

A few years back Nevada implented a reservation system for state parks. If the state park doesn't have electrical hookups with Ken's senior pass ($30.00 a year) we get to camp for free. If it has hookups it's $10.00 a night. Cave Lake has no hookups. The first site we stayed in the people never showed up and by the time we left on Friday they still hadn't showed up. The site stayed empty. Guess if they weren't  paying for the site they didn't bother to cancel. 1 big flaw! A lot of people came through the campground, but couldn't find a site and had to leave. Just not right. 

We hadn't made reservations thinking we wouldn't have a problem, but now we know. We had actually made contact with our friends Doug and Michelle, as they were traveling, but they were almost home so they weren't in our area then. Turned out it was a good thing, but we were hoping to get to see them. 

Friday morning we headed out with staying on the west side of Salt Lake City at a truck stop our destination. Sure didn't want to go through there with Friday traffic. 

We had a great night at the TA stop. 

Here we are in-between these two. They actually pulled in
long after we were sleeping. We didn't hear a thing!

Saturday we headed for Bear Valley State Park near Garden City, Utah and the Idaho border. We were here 3 years ago and really enjoyed it. Enjoying it again! 💗

All along Nevada highways the sagebrush is in full bloom! 

Utah is one of my favorite states as its so beautiful. 

How we started our Champagne Sunday at Bear Lake 💖

Our first time making pizza in our oven. It did great just took
about 3 times longer (30min) then home. That's ok we 
had no plans. 😀 It was worth the wait! 

Bear Lake State Park has full hookups, bathrooms with showers,
huge sites, green grass $40.00 a night and no reservations. 
There's a lot of people here, but plenty of good sites still
available! 

We thought we'd stay 2 nights but it looks like it'll be 4 before moving on.

Today we're taking a drive to Garden City, Utah just to check it out. 😊

Wednesday we'll head west and start the drive home. Our first stop is City of Rocks in Idaho. 

Have a wonderful day! 💖

Outdoor kitchen is completed..Fresh spaghetti sauce! Good bye luncheon for Aaron! Projects for our kids!

Lori, Russell, Aaron, Mason, Chloe, Me, Christina, Ken, Eric and Seth 💕
We met again at OTP Auburn to say goodbye to Aaron! 2 times in 
one week! So glad we were able to make this happen! 💖💙

 The outdoor kitchen expansion is finished! Of course, is anything ever really finished?! Ken got the last four rows of pavers done this week. We added about 100 sq feet to the original kitchen and we love it! Now to get to the decorating and moving stuff around to see what works best. There's a few things I want to order, but they'll have to wait until we're back from our yearly anniversary trip. 

An added 5 x 20 foot. Just a perfect size now! 

So, the week was spent at home and doing some running around in Reno and Carson City. A trip to Gardnerville to pick up some prescriptions for Ken too. 

Lori sent home a bunch of veggies from her garden so
made some delicious spaghetti one day and let it meld
for a couple. Turned out amazing, if I do say so myself LOL

Used ground turkey for the meat 

Zoodles for the spaghetti noodles. Cuts the carbs and calories
way down and was ohh so good! 

Saturday Karen joined us for Champagne  Saturday. College
football was on so it changed. I made bacon, lettuce and tomato
sandwiches with Turkey bacon. I made her a virgin bloody mary
but Ken decided to have a real one. YUM! 

Sunday, we met family in Auburn again to have a send off to college luncheon for Aaron. Another great time was had by all for a few hours. Hopefully he can come home for Thanksgiving, but we shall see. 

Today I spent a lot of time in the kitchen to get a few things for the trip done. Ken just brought the Mansion over from her parking spot over near John and Karen's place. Now to get busy packing! LOL. 

Conder Ranch beef we picked  up last weekend. OH so good!
He took a pound and made 4 burgers out of it. So half of mine 
he had for breakfast this morning. Grilled onions, oh yum!

Mine on the left, with a low carb burger bun! Oh so good, but
way too much! 

Russell and Lori have had their own project going so I've got a few pictures here. 

Wish I had before and after pics..they had a slatted cover for 20 years or so.
This one is so much better and new furniture always helps! 💙

Russell's outdoor kitchen. He's got lots of seating and places for company
to sit! Love what he did with pavers and rock! 

Eric and Christina have their own project going on at their house. Painting after being there about 20 years. Looks so good! 

Seth and Mason helping with the painting! 

Before

After 

Seth working on the trim 

Gotta love the red door!! 

Changed out our flags today. Third American Flag since December , 1st for the Navy we
had since December. Decided to go a little different for next few months. The wind
and weather here is brutal on the flags. Support Our Troops with the branches listed. 

We're at John and Karen's watching the hairy grandkids. They are a mess so we're staying the night while Karen is in Reno going to an appointment with John tomorrow. Couldn't leave them by themselves as they seem depressed that mom isn't home. 😔 An early morning to get everything loaded for a Wednesday departure! 

Have a good night! 

Perfect night for an outdoor fire!